If you’re one of the 40 million or so people who’ve seen the seventh installment of the Fast and Furious, you’ll know two Dodge Charger appear in the film. The first Charger was supplied by a secret military group and modified for off roading, while the other is, of course, Dom’s usual 1970 Charger.
Dom is supplied the Off Road Charger by the “Nobody”‘s group and has Tej use parts from a military Jeep to structually reinforce the Charger. Later Dom rescues Ramsey, and in their escape drive down a steep cliff, causing the car to roll over multiple times. Although Dom and Ramsey survive, the car ends up being completely mangled and totaled. End of Off Road Charger.
Now, about the Off Road Chargers themselves.
1. There just wasn’t one or two Chargers built and used for the film, there were 11. Each was designed for a specific role within the production (interior shots, exterior shots, stunts, etc.).
2. Good news for Mopar fans. All 11 of the Off Road Chargers were built from unsalvageable wrecks, so no cars worthy of restoration were destroyed.
3. Bad news for Mopar fans. Despite the Hemi decals on the Chargers, all were powered by Chevy LS crate motors.
4. According to the builder, replacement Charger body panels aren’t that hard to fabricate, but grills and tail panels are, which is why the off-road car has a very Mad Max mesh front.
5. The cars were all built at Dennis McCarthy’s Vehicle Effects in Sun Valley, California. Dennis was a shop teacher and owned a repair shop in Burbank, CA where he performed basic maintenance and worked on the occasional hot rod. The money spent on some Fast and Furious Cars can be outrageous. Disney and NBC had accounts at his shop. His work was noticed by producer of the movie Dragonfly and asked for his help turning a two-ton military truck into a bus for a crash scene in the movie. From there his Hollywood career was off and running.
